Two years on from my first Duke of Burgundy, I finally added Queen of Spain Fritillary to my Belgian list yesterday. This is actually quite a widespread species and probably the commonest fritillary in Belgium yet it tends to be found in impoverished habitats where few other butterflies occur. This, together with the fact that I'd already seen it in a couple of other countries, meant that I'd never really made the effort to see one in Belgium. The reserve of La Rochette, east of Liège, holds the biggest population in Wallonia due to the abundance of its hostplant, Viola lutea.
The pansy fields held very little else but the adjoining grasslands were full of hundreds of Small Skippers, here just about showing the tell-tale ochre-tipped antennae which help distinguish it from the very similar Essex Skipper (which has black tips).
There were also a few Marbled Fritillaries, my first this year, singing Yellowhammer and Tree Pipit, and some cool beetles around. I have tentatively identified this one as Cicindela campestris, or Green Tiger Beetle.
